English as a Singing Language

It’s been a long time, but we think it will be worth the wait! One of the things we love most about working on the podcast is meeting interesting, enthusiastic, talented people! We have a special Valentine’s-themed, connections episode for our first episode back. We created an episode with singing-coach, actor, and podcaster Estelle Idoko! In this episode, using the 1964 hit song, “L-O-V-E,” by Na...

Have you ever thought about what you would do if you had a million dollars? In order to think about this, or write or talk about it in English, you need to use an unreal conditional. For example, if we had a million dollars, we would spend all our time working on the podcast! In Season 3, Episode 12, we focus on the unreal conditionals in the song, “If I had a Million Dollars,” by the Canadian gro...

International Women’s Day is celebrated all over the world on March 8th. Ece and Heather host an annual party with their friends, and this year, they are adding another song to their playlist for the party - Kelly Clarkson’s 2011 hit song, “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You).” This song has a great message, and it also contains a lot of comparative adjectives. Maybe you were strong last year, but th...

It’s the middle of winter, and Heather is m-m-m-miserable in the cold. We get together for a cup of hot chocolate to fight the gloomy winter weather, and we end up talking about the 1966 Simon & Garfunkel song, “A Hazy Shade of Winter.” There’s a famous 1987 cover of the song by the Bangles, and we love them both. Both versions of the song are great for practicing fluency and thought groups. W...

It’s a new year, and a new beginning. For the first episode of 2025, we have chosen Taylor Swift’s 2017 song, “New Year’s Day” from her album, Reputation. It’s important to have people in your life that you can count on. It’s easy to find friends to celebrate and have fun with. The people who are truly your friends, however, will be there to clean up the mess after the party. That’s the message of...

It’s hard to believe, but this is the final episode of “English as a Singing Language” in 2024! In this episode of the podcast, we’re hanging out in a coffee shop, discussing the ups and downs of the past year. This naturally leads to a discussion about past tense verbs in the Beatles 1965 song, “Yesterday.” Check out this episode for some fun grammar and interesting conversation. 🎶Until 2025, ha...

Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States. Families gather together to eat a traditional meal and appreciate the good things in their lives. We’ve got another funny novelty song for this episode, Carrie Underwood’s 2021 single, “Stretchy Pants.” This song not only celebrates the “big traditional meal” part of Thanksgiving, but it’s also stuffed full of usef...

Halloween is celebrated on October 31st in the United States. People dress up in costumes, attend parties, and carve pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns. On Halloween night, children go door-to-door to ask for candy from their neighbors saying, “Trick or Treat!” In this eerie episode, we’re using a funny novelty song from the 1960s to practice the [æ] vowel sound vs. the [e] vowel sound in the pronuncia...

There’s an important election coming up in the United States, and Heather and Ece are on their way to their polling place to cast their votes. On the way there, they discuss the 1985 Tears for Fears song, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” The song has useful vocabulary and interesting figurative language, and it also includes a discussion about power and people who “want to rule the world.” Joi...

In each season, we like to include a traditional song that is good for language learners of all ages. For Season 3, Episode 4, we’ve chosen a song we remember from our own childhoods, “I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.” This song is silly and funny and since it repeats each verse, it’s great language practice. We’ve also recorded ourselves singing the version of the song included in the lyri...

We love listening to many different types of music from different time periods. In Season 3, Episode 3 we’re using the 1977 disco song, “Take A Chance On Me,” by the Swedish super group, ABBA. The rhythm of this song is great for practicing fluency. You may need to sing it a few times before you can sing as fluently as ABBA does, but it’s a really fun way to practice. And just remember that if ABB...

It’s summertime where we live, and we’re busy soaking up the sun. In Season 3, Episode 2 of English as a Singing Language, we’ve got a catchy, sunny song that is full of useful vocabulary. Sheryl Crow’s 2002 hit song, “Soak up the Sun,” will not only cheer you up and give you a positive outlook, but it will also give you lots of English practice! ⁠⁠Official YouTube Video⁠ https://www.youtube.com/w...

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 1 of the podcast!  We’re so excited about starting a new season of English as a Singing Language. We’re starting off the new season with a confidence-building song. It seems like everyone feels like they have to pretend that they are someone they’re not sometimes, but it is important to be yourself. That’s the message in Montana Tucker’s 2021 hit song, “Be Myself.” Che...

We started English as a Singing Language as a way for people to have fun singing while practicing English pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and fluency. We work hard to make every episode as perfect as possible. We write and edit our scripts, and record and edit the audio. We try to be extremely serious and professional while we’re working on the podcast, but sometimes one of us makes a mistake,...

When we started the podcast, “English as a Singing Language” back in 2022, it seemed almost impossible. There were so many new skills to learn and so many tasks to do. Luckily, we work well together, support each other, and enjoy the creative process. In fact, we believe that’s what friends are for! Friends are for encouragement, kindness and of course, lots of laughs. This belief led us to choose...

English as a Singing Language has created an episode especially for International Workers’ Day on May 1st. We work hard as language teachers and podcasters, and we believe that ALL workers should be paid fairly and work in safe conditions.  We chose the 1980 hit song “9 to 5,” written and sung by Dolly Parton for the film, “9 to 5.” We talk about the descriptive vocabulary and useful idioms that D...

Both Heather and Ece are ready for a vacation after a long semester of teaching. While Ece is going to a nearby city to visit a friend, Heather is getting ready to go to the beach. In this episode, they are talking about prepositional phrases in the song, "Under the Boardwalk," by The Drifters. Have fun learning some useful English grammar while listening to this doo-wop classic song fro...

There were so many inspirational and empowering songs to choose from for our International Women’s Day episode, we decided to include another song from our party playlist. Katy Perry’s 2013 hit pop song, “Roar” is the perfect song for building up your courage and finding your voice. This song is full of useful and interesting vocabulary, phrases and figurative language. It’s also really fun to sin...

International Women’s Day is on March 8th. We like to think about all of the smart, strong, beautiful women we know on this day. In fact, Ece is planning a party to celebrate the day, and she is creating a playlist full of inspiring music. What is the first song she is going to add? It’s Rachel Platten’s 2015 hit, “Fight Song.”  This song has extremely inspiring lyrics, and it has great practice w...

Love and music are in the air! In this special Valentine’s Day episode of the podcast, Heather is worried that she doesn’t have enough days in the week to finish all of the things on her to-do list. Ece introduces The Beatles’s 1964 hit song, “Eight Days a Week,” and we talk about simple present and imperative verbs. We also talk about how great it would be to actually have eight days in a week! L...

We hope your new year is off to a good start. If your new year’s resolution is to improve your English language ability, and you want some inspiration, we encourage you to take a listen to this episode. Most people worry about what others think sometimes, and in this episode, we are using the hit song, “This is Me,” from the 2017 film, “The Greatest Showman,” to talk about accepting yourself and h...

What’s the weather like where you are? It’s definitely winter where we are, and Ece is once again trying to get Heather to enjoy the cold and snow. In this episode, we’re using Ariana Grande’s hit song, “Winter Things,” to talk about useful words for everyday conversation, and some special winter-themed vocabulary, too! Grab your hat and your gloves and get ready to visualize yourself doing some w...

Do you like to practice perfect pronunciation? If you said “yes,” then this episode is for you. This song has many examples of aspiration. If you don’t know what this is, you should definitely listen to this episode. There is plenty of pronunciation practice, and a song with a good message. In this episode, we’re talking about Joni Mitchell’s hit 1970 song, “Big Yellow Taxi.” In addition to pronun...

The most recent episode of the podcast featured the song, “Adventurous Girl,”  which was written and sung by our friend and fellow language teacher, Patti Spinner. We were so excited to meet someone who loves using music to teach and learn language as much as we do - some people might even say more! We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to talk to Patti and ask her about her experience as a teacher...